From One to Another
by 16woodsequ
Summary: Knock Out is slowly trying to adjust to life as an Autobot. Meanwhile a revelation from Ratchet sends him reeling. Discussion of abuse.


**A/N:** Can be read as companion fic to my other stories "Dear Doctor" and "A soldier's sacrifice"

"Knock Out!"

Knock Out jerked and his head snapped up to look at the medic across from him.

Ratchet gave him a curious look. "Are you listening Knock Out?" Knock Out snorted, "Of course I was." And waved at the medic to continue.

Ratchet paused for a few seconds before continuing his theory on an unusual energy readings a scout had picked up. "It's likely an after effect from reigniting the core of Cybertron…"

In all honesty, the readings were as uninteresting to Knock Out as the grey walls behind his fellow medic. Although Knock Out was trying his best to at least pretend to be paying attention. Ratchet had been unexpectedly casual about Knock Out's shift in sides. Perhaps because they both shared a medical background…?

Either way Knock Out appreciated the comfortable roles that they had fallen into. Ratchet spending most of his time on earth, periodically visiting via Space Bridge. While Knock Out stayed on Cybertron.

Which lead Knock Out right back to the problem that had been plaguing him ever since he'd joined the Autobots. The small team boggled his mind. They were unfathomably close. Every time Ratchet happened by, the entire unit would come to meet him, and see him off when he left.

On one of Ratchet's visits, Bulkhead had been in a different sector of Cybertron overlooking construction. The big bot had radioed earth simply to grumble at the medic for leaving without saying goodbye. And Ratchet had grumbled back about not using the channel unless it was for an emergency. But Knock Out had gotten the feeling that neither bot was actually upset with the other.

The whole team seemed to be that way. Even the stuck up Commander Ultra Magnus, would overlook idle comm. chatter on patrol. (As long as it didn't distract from the actual mission of course.)

On the Nemesis such would have never been the case. Divides in the command structure had been drawn with gun fire and scorch marks. No one intermingled and no one had anything to talk about. Breakdown and Knock Out had already known each other before they'd arrived on the Nemesis. But neither had been surprised by the lack of kinship among the crew. It had been normal.

Well, Breakdown had become friendly with the Vehicons. But that was just Breakdown.

Now, Knock Out found the rules of his world had been flipped completely upside down. Here the Autobots were even talking to _him_ of all people. With varying degrees of warmth to be sure, but still.

Knock Out vaguely registered that Ratchet was motioning to a monitor. Complying, he looked down at what seemed to be a map. Several grids were highlighted and Ratchet was pointing at one in the northern sector.

"-probably best if we keep focused on those areas. But Ultra Magnus should have that covered. Barring any unforeseen complications, it should be up and running pretty soon."

 _What?_ Knock Out blinked. Apparently he'd completely lost the thread of the conversation. _I hope there isn't a test at the end_. He thought begrudgingly.

For the rest of the day Knock Out tried to push his thoughts into the back of his mind. It helped that Bumblebee and a few Vehicons came in with some minor medical needs. The troop was just what Knock Out needed to keep himself busy.

By the end of the day, no one needed repairs, and Ratchet was in another part of the base. Knock Out decided to take advantage of the free time, to figure out what Ratchet had been briefing him about earlier. Might as well touch up on his paint job while he was at it.

 _Something about energy readings._ He mused. As he fingered a few polishing rags and turned on a data pad. Finding the reports Ratchet had been referring to Knock Out started to bring out the shine in his paint. While reading the data pad, of course.

The mention of strange energy readings reminded Knock Out of the day the late Optimus Prime had sacrificed himself to relight Cybertron. It had truly been one of the most beautiful moments he could remember seeing in a long time.

A quiet thought tried to make itself known from the back of his mind.

No. He was reading. Doing his job, he was busy.

 _But those medical reports…_ whispered the back of his mind.

Right. The medical reports. Those blasted things.

When Knock Out had taking over medical duties on Cybertron, Ratchet had sent over every medical file he had on the Autobot team. Knock Out had of course taken a glance at them. Deciding to find out if one of his patients tended to wake up, guns blazing, _before_ it actually happened.

What he found, or more what he _didn't_ find, had surprised him. It had taken Knock Out a while to figure out what was missing from the reports. At first glance they looked to be perfectly fine.

Well, they were. Ratchet had cataloged every injury and repair he'd done on the team. Mesh wounds from scraplets, (thank Primus that never happened on the Nemesis.) T-cog repair, Tox-en poisoning, Wheeljack blowing up half his left hand. Everything was there.

But, that couldn't be it. Knock Out had searched, run scans and even questioned some of the bots themselves, about a few of their injuries.

And he couldn't fine one, not one suspicious injury. Bumblebee's voice box, Arcee's scaring. They all had an explanation.

Knock Out wasn't reading the reports anymore. Not even close. Even his polishing rag had stilled while he thought through his apparent dilemma. Knock Out gave up and changed the data pad screen to the medical files of Smokescreen. The file seemed clean, a few minor repairs and a nasty ding in the back of his helm. Accounted to being attacked from behind.

"Knock Out?"

To his annoyance, Knock Out actually jumped. Fumbling with the data pad a few times before watching it fall to the floor.

Ratchet might have smiled slightly as he stooped down to retrieve the pad. He took a glance at it before handing it back to the sports car, and raised an optic ridge.

"Doing some late night studying?" Inquired the CMO. "As far as I know, Smokescreen hasn't needed any medical care for a while."

Taking the pad back Knock Out debated what to say to the older mech. It would be a chance to get some answers, but perhaps Ratchet would become offended. Finally Knock Out decided to prod a bit, and see what happened.

"Something like that." He responded. Looking up at Ratchet, he sighed. "Actually, I was hoping you could shed some light on the situation."

Ratchet shrugged, slightly curious as to what could be troubling the young doctor. "I don't see why not. What do you need?"

Knock Out shifted, trying to figure out how to word his thoughts. "Has… have you ever repaired anything odd on your patients?" He finally asked.

Ratchet gave him an odd look, but considered the question. "Well, one time Bumblebee had Megatron in his mind. That was out of the norm. Bulkhead almost had his mind taken over as well actually. But Miko was able to extract it." Ratchet chuckled and leaned back on the counter beside him. "Back before earth I had an infernal pair of twins, who managed to get themselves in the oddest situations you could imagine. They drove me half insane I tell you."

Knock Out fiddled with his data pad. Each example sounded interesting in its own right. And on any other day he would have liked to hear the whole story. But they weren't getting him anywhere closer to the answers he needed.

"I meant more like…" Geez how could he say it? He knew how revered Optimus Prime had been. But surely even he… Knock Out grumbled and pulled up a different file on his data pad. Perhaps it would be easier to show Ratchet.

"I meant something like this."

Ratchet took the offered data pad and began to look it over. After a few minutes his brow furled, and he began to reread and cross reference a few of the entries.

Knock Out picked up the polishing cloth that lay discarded on the counter. He wasn't in the mood to buff his plating anymore. But he needed something to do while Ratchet read through the pad. He glanced up at the medic. Ratchet's optics had narrowed and his stance was tense. In all essence he looked like a brewing thunder cloud.

A wave of uncertainty passed over Knock Out as he scrubbed the door panel on his arm. Perhaps he shouldn't have showed that to Ratchet, maybe the older mech was upset with him now. He probably should have kept his mouth shut.

Ratchet put the pad down and vented slowly while rubbing his optics. "This is all recent?" He asked quietly.

"Yes," Knock Out murmured. "I don't have any records from before I came. For all I know he repaired himself."

"Was Starcream the only one? Or was this ship wide?" Ratchet's optics were piercing, narrow slits.

"Uh, mostly it was Starscream. But sometimes others." Knock Out felt as though he'd done something wrong. Should he have shared this with Ratchet? It was nothing really, probably normal. He was over reacting. He always over reacted.

"It was usually after a failed mission, and since Starscream was superior to everyone else he got the blame. But everyone knew Megatron had a temper anyway. And-"He couldn't stop. Words were rushing out of his mouth without hindrance. He snapped his denta together, dragging his gaze down from the medic across from him, to the cloth in his servo.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ Ratchet looked ready to burst. He'd made a mistake. He shouldn't have said anything…

Ratchet watched his fellow medic as he practically shredded the polishing rag between his digits. Making a colossal effort to reel in his righteous anger for now, Ratchet's gaze fell back on the data file.

The data file of a notorious seeker. Chalk full of injuries, injuries that couldn't be explained through battle wounds or a failed training exercise. Ratchet made a mental note to rearrange Megatron into a can opener if he ever got the chance.

Ratchet vented again to cool his systems. It wouldn't do to spook his medical staff. One who was probably already blaming himself.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Ratchet. The whole time Knock Out had been trying to-. No _wonder_ he was jumpy.

"You want to know if that happens here." Ratchet stated. Mentally gauging the red mech's reaction.

Knock Out relaxed slightly. Turning his gaze to the ambulance across from him. Seeing the sports car calming down a few notches, Ratchet continued.

"It's understandable you would… expect something like this. But in all my years as CMO I've never seen Optimus strike his subordinates. Not once."

Knock Out reeled slightly. Trying to process what he had just heard. Not once? As in never? Was that even possible? Knock Out sat down heavily on the medical berth behind him. His thoughts traveling several hundred miles per second.

As a young medical student he'd learned about this. They had studied about what to do in these situations. But during the war, the lines between discipline and abuse became blurred. Even Starscream believed he deserved what he got.

It had bothered him. Oh yes, it had kept him up at night. But how could he have deluded himself into thinking this was normal?

Ratchet watch with slight concern as his counterpart stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Hesitantly the old doctor sat next to Knock Out.

"There have been cases." Knock Out's attention snapped back to Ratchet. "There have been cases of commanders who abused their rights as leaders. But each one was dealt with effectively and efficiently. I imagine though," Ratchet looked over at the troubled mech beside him. "That it would have been different if it was our fraction leader, who was the perpetrator."

Knock Out nodded hesitantly. That was true, how was one person supposed to go up against someone like Megatron?

Ratchet sighed. "I won't tell you what you should or shouldn't have done. But I imagine you did the best you could." Ratchet patted Knock Out's shoulder as he stood up. "Don't blame yourself. And know, that you won't have to worry about that happening anymore."

 _And if it does._ Thought Ratchet. _My wrench and I can go and have a talk with them._

Knock Out watched the orange and white mech leave the Med bay. With a sigh he stood up. Don't blame yourself. That was exactly what Breakdown had said.

Knock Out was in deep recharge. Or at least he should have been. But for some reason his CPU decided to boot up in the middle of the night cycle.

There was a light on. A Primus forsaken light, that had made it its' goal to have a competition with the sun in brightness.

Knock Out groaned and opened an optic.

Then sat bolt upright in bed.

Standing in the middle of his room was a, well a thing. It looked to be Cybertronian in form. But the shape seemed to be half translucent and made up of light. The being slowly came into focus, as the light dimmed, until only the figure itself was lit up slightly.

Knock Out stared. There was no way this was happening. "S-Starscream?" He sputtered.

The seeker in front of him smirked and placed a hand on his hip. "Hello Knock Out." Came the smooth reply.

"What? W-why? _What?_ " Was Knock Out's intelligent response.

Starscream laughed. Taking pity on the flustered mech in front of him. "Don't worry Knock Out. I'm not here to haunt you if that's what you're worried about."

Haunt? Did that mean that Starcream was-

"Offlining when I did was slightly unexpected. But I've learn to live with it. Figuratively speaking of course."

"O-of course…" Knock Out's CPU raced to keep up with what was happening. Starscream was dead? But then why…?

"Anyway," Starscream continued. "There's a few things I had to finish before I left." The translucent flyer seemed to float closer as he spoke. Knock Out noticed the former Air Commander glancing around the room, optics taking in every detail.

"Breakdown's happy for you." The seeker commented shifting away to examine something on Knock Out's desk. "Says you made a good decision, he sends his regards."

Knock Out barely vented. Optics fixed on the ghost in front of him. "Oh and," The seeker turned to look at him. "Tell the Autobots to get Soundwave out of that parallel universe. Primus was very insistent on that."

"What about you?" Knock Out seemed to be getting a grip on things. Whatever was happening he'd just roll with it and see where he came out.

The former Air Commander tilted his head slightly, as if not understanding the question. "You said you had things to finish." Knock Out clarified. "What are they?"

Starscream smiled softly. "Sharp as ever doctor." Crossing his arms behind his back, Starscream regarded the medic for a few seconds before he began to speak.

"I came to tell you... thanks." Knock Out opened his mouth, and then shut it. He never would have expected to hear those words coming from the seeker in front him.

"You don't, have to worry about me anymore." Continued Starscream, optics focused slightly to left, so that he wasn't looking directly at the medic. "And you can certainly stop blaming yourself." The grey flyer shifted slightly so that he was facing away from Knock Out. "What ever happened in the past is finished now" Starscream looked over at the medic again. "I spoke to Megatron."

Knock Out made a surprised noise in the back of his throat. But otherwise didn't say anything.

"He's... he's different now, much like he used to be." Starscream uncrossed his arms and looked down at himself. Knock suddenly realized the seeker was becoming more and more clear.

"It would seem I'm almost out of time." The flyer mused. "Ah, well. Just make sure to change Megatron back if Ratchet ever does turn him into a can opener."

With that the seeker faded completely and Knock Out's room returned back to its original state. Knock Out vented and laid back down on his recharge berth. Although recharge was seemingly allusive at this point.

After several minutes of staring at his ceiling Knock Out gave up and onlined his comm. link.

"Hey Bumblebee. I was just wondering, what ever happened to Soundwave?"


End file.
